Translating Systems Approach to Family Therapy to LO24166 Organizations LO24131

From: Winfried Dressler (winfried.dressler@voith.de)
Date: 03/13/00


>A child walked on the beach. Suddenly it stopped and picked up a small
>object, observed it attentive and .. shouted excited: "Daddy, look, I found
>a treasure!"
>The father looked at it too and said kindly: "Oh, it is just a piece of
>colored glass." from that moment the child only saw a piece of colored
>glass, the magic was broken. Nevertheless, a moment ago... it was there... a
>treasure.
>
>Who can perform magic? The child that turns a piece of colored glass into a
>treasure, or the father who changes a treasure into glass? White or black
>magic?

Dear Winfried,

Are you giving a picture of romantic hope? Back to the lost paradise?

The magic of the emergence of a learning organization (be it a family or
other) can surely not be compared with 'getting back to the treasure which
the glass used to be'.

The child which lost it's treasure and gained a piece of coloured glass
did experience a creative collapse - you can feel the irreversibility
while reading -, but not necessarily (although possibly) an immergence.
The miracle of a colored piece of glass is an order of magnitude higher
than the miracle of the former 'treasure'. Now that the child has learned
what is not a treasure, it is free to go and find what may be treasures
now.

Note, that a becoming as stated in your second question never took place:
coloured glass ---(becoming ('turns into'))---> treasure The hope for such
a becoming is, what I called romantic hope.

What happened in your story was instead:

something ---(spontanous becoming)---> treasure ---(non-spontanous
becoming)---> piece of coloured glass.

It is the non-spontanous nature of the second becoming, which makes it
possibly an immergence. It may have hurt the joy of finding a treasure. A
father more sensitive to learning might have helped the child to create a
rich picture of the obviously emerged concept of a treasure, making it a
continuous finder of more and more valuable treasures - an authentic
learner.

Liebe Gruesse,

Winfried

-- 

"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>

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